Motivational Theories
Different authors have distinct definitions of the subject. However, according to Huitt, motivational is an inner state or shape, also known as the need or desire required to enliven personal behaviors by giving a direction (2001). Motivational is one of the fundamental biological or psychological processes and is equalized to the behavioral changes. For instance, when someone strives to get employed or to drink water, there is a driving force behind the desires known as motivational—the desire to get employed maybe to earn money. Similarly, one longs to drink water to quench thirst. Every activity undertaken got aims; all action has both positive and negative consequences. It is the rewarding aims inducing the driving force that stimulates the person to carry out operations. For example, thirst is a biological instinct propelling the individual to drink water. One of the principal significance of motivation is that it enables individuals to respond to stimuli in the environment. This paper evaluates the subject’s motivation, motives, and components. Besides, the article will address the theories of motivation and Maslow’s Hierarchy theory. Lastly, the document will seek to propose the strongest motivational for general behavior according to the hierarchy.
Motivation has three components; intensity, activation, and persistence. Intensity motivational involves the concentrations and efforts towards achieving a goal, and activation involves the resolutions to commence a behavior. For instance, registering for college classes. Persistence, on the other hand, means continuous attempts towards achieving a goal even with the existing obstacles, for example, taking collage classes to increase employment opportunities with the required time, resources, and efforts. These are demonstrated by Muho & Kurani in the research to analyzing motivational components influencing the learning process.
Motives on the same note are used to refer to the reason behinds someone’s behaviors. Motivation and motives are two similar words with different meanings. The two words are complementary and have essential power over human actions. Motivational is a psychological process toward general behaviors; however, motives are the cause of the behaviors. There are three types of motives; social motives, biological motives, and personal motives. Physiological or biological motives involve homeostasis processes and are triggered by imbalances in an organism’s body. Sex, need for sleep, need for egestion are some of the biological motives. Social motives are gained due to interactions with society. These motives are specific to humans but differ depending on the individual. Social motives include; achievements, curiosity, amongst others. Personal motives are individual motives and incorporate both biological and social motives and include; life goals, habits, interests, and attitudes.
Three theories of motivation address the issues discussed above; Biological, behavioral and socio-cognitive theories. Biological approaches mainly revolve around homeostasis and Charles Darwin’s evolution theory. Darwin’s theory outlines that all behaviors are motivated by evolutionary existence necessities. An organism better adapts to the environment due to the evolution of ethics. On the other hand, homeostasis drive triggers an organism’s motivation to maintain a state of balance in the body.
The behavioral approach examines how personal drives interact with goals in learning to produce an appropriate character or behavior. In this theory, three concepts are considered; the motive, incentives, and the drive. Drive is triggered by the homeostasis process. Incentives, on the other hand, involve how the behaviors are influenced by personal goals.
The socio-cognitive theory involves the skills, knowledge, behaviors, believes, strategies gained due to interactions with other individuals. Motivation to social-cognitive is based on three main areas; environmental influences such as relationships and situations, behaviors, for instance, skills and personal factors such as personality and self-efficacy. For example, as someone grows cognitively, the intelligence and knowledge gained are more dependent on the surrounding environment (Huitt, 2001).
Maslow’s hierarchy 1943, is a psychology theory postulated by Abraham Moscow. In his research on human motivational, Maslow postulated a hierarchy of human needs based on growth and deficiency necessities. The Maslow hierarchy proposed that humans are driven to satisfy basic needs before advanced obligations. From the pyramid, the basic wants are arranged at the bottom and the complex ones at the top.
From the deficiency necessities, the lower ranks must be achieved before proceeding to the higher positions. These needs are arranged in four levels, starting with physiological wants at the bottom, then safety necessities, followed by love and belongings, and finally, esteem needs at the top. The psychological needs are essential for survival and include food, water homeostasis, and breathing, to mention a few. Maslow states that an individual will act on the growth necessities only after deficiency necessities have been satisfied. Growth needs are double grouped and directly on top of deficiency necessity; at the lower end, there is a need to know and aesthetic needs. On the upper part of the hierarchy, there is self-actualization and transcendence (Huitt, 2001). As you move up the pyramid, the wants become more social and psychological.
Maslow’s theory has faced a lot of critics due to some reasons; first, the hypothesis if focused on the motivational as a subject rather than the processes to motivational. Secondly, it isn’t easy to apply the theory. Some individuals claim that the argument is complicated, and also, some levels are miss arranged. For instance, some people value self-esteem than social needs.
From Maslow’s hierarchy, safety and security needs provide for the most potent motivation in general behavior, mainly because as individuals grow up, they want to wants to order and take control of their lives (Cherry, 2020). For instance, an individual needs to be patient and humbled to get a job.
References
1 BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE – THEORIES – DESCRIPTION AND EVALUATION Theories of Motivation. (2020). http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1AL0p7xLYNcJ:socialscientist.us/nphs/psychIB/psychpdfs/MotivationTheories.pdf+&cd=20&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ke&client=firefox-b-d
Cherry, Kendra. “How Maslow’s Famous Hierarchy Of Needs Explains Human Motivation.” Verywell Mind, 2020, https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-4136760.
Huitt, W. (2001). Motivation to learn: An overview. Educational psychology interactive, 12.
Muho, Anita & Kurani, Aida. “Components of Motivation to Learn From A Psychological Perspective.” Webcache.Googleusercontent.Com, 2013, https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:DYNnn01Y88sJ:https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3bca/820ebb92e969d7be6d631d17d08e0398fee0.pdf+&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ke&client=firefox-b-d